Easy openable and closable bag with slide fastener

ABSTRACT

A reclosable bag has elongated opening means adapted to be permanently opened with a slide fastener having support tapes secured to the bag on respective opposite sides of the opening means for forming a closure over the opening means once the opening means have been permanently opened.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to bags for containing, shipping, storingand otherwise handling bulk material such as pet food, charcoal, petbedding, etc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Bulk materials such as pet food, charcoal, pet bedding, etc., are oftensold in paper or polymer bags. When it is desired to use the productwithin a bag, the bag is cut or ripped open to enable the contents to beremoved by pouring or otherwise. Once the bag has been opened, there areno provisions for reclosing the opening, and thus extra care or stepsmust be taken in subsequent handling of the bag to avoid loss orcontamination through the opening.

Special purpose bags, such as a ring binder pocket disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 2,807,265, have been manufactured with an opening to which aslide fastener is attached so that the bag may be easily closed andopened. However, bulk material exerts pressure forces on the walls andseams of a bag during shipping and handling. Such forces could cause aslide fastener to open or otherwise fail, particularly when the slidefastener is formed from relatively inexpensive materials in order toavoid greatly adding to the cost of the bag and its contents.

A tobacco pocket is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,519,290 wherein a slidefastener forms an auxiliary closure for a primary sealing device whichincludes complementary rib and groove members. Such rib and groovemembers are generally unable to withstand the pressure forces of bulkmaterials in larger bags.

A plastic bag having adjacent side walls sealed at the ends thereof isillustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,619,395 wherein a pair of cooperatingelongated parallel transversely closable and releasable interlockingmembers are formed on the inner surfaces of the respective side walls.Access to the interlocking means is provided by a tear ribbon on one ofthe side walls.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is summarized in a reclosable bag including a bag havingan elongated opening means formed therein adapted to be permanentlyopened, and a slide fastener having a pair of support tapes and a pairof rows of interlocking coupling elements extending from inner edges ofthe respective support tapes, the support tapes being secured to the bagon respective opposite sides of the opening means for forming a closureover the opening means.

An object of the invention is to construct a reclosable bag having aslide fastener for enabling reclosure thereof wherein the slide fasteneris normally shielded from lateral stress and abrasion during filling,shipping and storing of the bag until the bag is opened for consumeruse.

One advantage of the invention is that the bag has opening means whichis normally closed so that such opening means in the bag structureabsorbs substantially all of the stress from shifting and handling ofthe bulk material in the bag.

Other objects, advantages and features of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description of the preferred embodiment taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a top portion of a bag constructed inaccordance with the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-section taken at line 2--2 in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, an embodiment of the invention includesa bag indicated generally at 10 with an elongated opening means, such asa tear strip 12, covered by a slide fastener indicated generally at 14.The bag 10 is used for storing, shipping and otherwise handling bulkparticulate or powder material. Once the bag is purchased by the user ofthe material therein, the tear strip 12 may be removed and the slidefastener 14 be used as a reclosable opener to permit removal of a smallquantity of material from the bag 10 and storing the remaining materialfor later use.

The bag 10 is a conventional bag made from conventional materials suchas paper and/or polymer used in shipping and storing bulk particulate orpowder material. The bag 10 has a top opening 20 closed by aconventional strip 22 and line of stiching 24. The tear strip 12 isformed in a sidewall 26 of the bag 10 by perforated lines 30 and 32which extend parallel to each other across the wall 26, a perforatedline 34 extending between the ends of the lines 30 and 32 and asemi-circular cut line 36 extending between the opposite ends of thelines 30 and 32 to form a tab 38 which may be easily gripped forremoving the tear strip 12.

The slide fastener 14 includes a pair of tapes 40 and 42 and a pair ofrows of interlocking coupling elements 44 and 46 extending from theinner edges of the respective tapes 40 and 42. A slider 48 is slidablymounted on the rows of coupling elements 44 and 46 for engaging anddisengaging the coupling elements 44 and 46 by movement of the slider.The slide fastener is conventional, and preferably of a relativelyinexpensive type, such as a slide fastener having coupling elements 44and 46 formed from spiral coil type elements which are installed throughslits in folded polymer film tapes forming the support tapes 40 and 42.

Outer edge portions of the respective tapes 40 and 42 are secured to theinside surface of the wall 26 on opposite sides of the elongated tearstrip 12 along lines of x's 50 and 52. At the ends of the slidefastener, lines of x's 54 and 56 illustrate transverse lines ofattachment of the tapes 40 and 42 to the wall 26 past the ends of thetear strip 12. The attachments formed between the slide fastener tapesand the inside surface of the wall 26 are made by bonding, sewing, etc.The width of the slide fastener 14 between the attachments 50 and 52 isgreater than the width of the section of bag wall 26 between theattachments 50 and 52 so that the slide fastener is stress free or in arelaxed condition while the tear strip 12 remains intact.

In use of the bag shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the bag is initiallymanufactured without the sealing strip 22 and stitching line 24 but withthe slide fastener attached thereto in a relaxed condition. Subsequentlythe bag is filled through the opening 20 with particulate or powdermaterial and then the strip 22 is sewn on the upper edge of the bag bythe stitches 24 to close the bag. Thereafter the bag and its contentscan be stored, stacked with other bags, shipped, or otherwise handleduntil the bag and its contents reach the user.

During the filling, stacking and shipping of the bag with its contents,the tear strip 12 remains intact absorbing the forces exerted on the bagby the pressure of the bulk material within the bag. The slide fastener14 is thus relieved of stress from the pressure of the contents duringthe filling, shipping, handling, and storing of the bag which otherwisecould cause failure of the slide fastener.

Once the bag and its contents reach the user, the user can grasp the tab38 and remove the tear strip 12 exposing the slide fastener 14.Thereafter the bag can be opened by movement of the slider 48 to permita desired quantity of the material within the bag 10 to be removed.After the removal of the desired quantity of material, the slider 48 isagain operated to reclose the bag. In bags without any provisions forreclosing, the unused contents of a bag are subject to becomingcontaminated and being inadvertently spilled through the opening.

Furthermore, the slide fastener does not affect the storing or fillingcharacteristics of the bag due to its being entirely placed on a sidewall of the bag.

Since the present invention is subject to many variations, modificationsand changes in detail, it is intended that all matter described in theforegoing description and shown in the accompanying drawings beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A reclosable bag comprisinga bag having a topopening, means for closing the top opening, and a sidewall, said bagalso having elongated closed opening means including a closed tear stripformed in the sidewall and adapted to be permanently opened, and a slidefastener having a pair of support tapes and a pair of rows ofinterlocking coupling elements extending from inner edges of therespective support tapes, said support tapes being secured to thesidewall on respective opposite sides of the tear strip for forming aclosure for the opening means after the tear strip has been opened.
 2. Areclosable bag as claimed in claim 1 wherein the tear strip is formed bya pair of parallel lines of perforations in the sidewall, a third lineof perforations in the sidewall extending between the parallel lines ofperforations at one end of the tear strip, and a curved cut line in thesidewall extending between the parallel lines of perforations at theother end of the tear strip.
 3. A reclosable bag as claimed in claim 1or 2 wherein the support tapes are secured to an inside surface of thebag.
 4. A reclosable bag as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said supporttapes have outer edge portions which are secured to an inside surface ofthe sidewall on respective opposite sides of the tear strip, and thewidth of the slide fastener between the outer edge portions is greaterthan the sidewall portion between the attachments to the support tapesso that the slide fastener is free of stress prior to the tear stripbeing permanently opened.